Ntounias

Slow food is taken to new heights at this family-run taverna in the White Mountains of western Crete. Stelios Trilyrakis is a one-man band—farmer, shepherd, butcher, beekeeper, vintner, chef, and waiter. Guests are welcomed into the kitchen to see what’s cooking in the clay pots and blackened pans that simmer over an open fire. There’s nothing as mundane as a menu: Daily dishes depend on what’s growing in the backyard. If you’re lucky, you’ll find slow-roasted goat, stuffed cabbage leaves, and bitter greens folded into phyllo pastry. Go at lunch to enjoy the winding journey through a gorge along a narrow road occasionally blocked by sheep.